Addressing an audience of around 250 Arsenal supporters Ivan Gazidis said there had barely been a single hour since the end of the season when he was not working on club business. A midsummer’s evening spent at the Royal Oak Suite at the Emirates summed up how the goings-on at a football club never ease off.

The sun burned, Champions League hopes evaporated and all of a sudden the lightning rod for Arsenal supporters’ disillusionment moved away from the man in the dugout and out towards the Atlantic. The chant started in the North Bank and suddenly spread, growing in urgency as it coursed round the stadium: “Stan Kroenke – get out of our club.”

Alisher Usmanov has made a $1.3bn (£1bn) bid for near total control of Arsenal. The Russian billionaire, who holds a 30% stake in the club, indicated to Stan Kroenke, the majority shareholder, he was willing to pay the sum to buy him out. The approach, made last month, values Arsenal at $2bn.

Addressing an audience of around 250 Arsenal supporters Ivan Gazidis said there had barely been a single hour since the end of the season when he was not working on club business. A midsummer’s evening spent at the Royal Oak Suite at the Emirates summed up how the goings-on at a football club never ease off.